Monstrum, the peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal, recently reviewed Chrysanthemum Under the Waves. Mikaela Bobiy concluded with the following:
Chrysanthemum Under the Waves is not so much a book to flip through as it is a dream to insert yourself into—you are the passenger in the seat of the car, you are the figure perched on the parlour chair, or the woman rowing out to sea. Umber’s book is a mood, a dream, a memory, a (collective) unconscious. From both the introduction and afterword, it is clear that Chrysanthemum Under the Waves is both an act of sublimation on Umber’s part, and a love letter to Shirley Jackson. While the book is in dialogue with Jackson’s stories, it remains a work wholly unto itself, with its own themes and visual language. Through the images, we feel loss, grief, the slippage of time and hints of violence just outside the frame; these are women losing themselves, slipping off the pages, until there is nothing left but a woman’s shoe on a sand-swept walkway, with sea grass swaying in the breeze.
Read the full review on the Monstrum website.
Also, a conversation between Jared Gardner and I, The Sounds of Silence: Spotlight on Maggie Umber, is available now on the CXC YouTube channel or to watch here ↓
Maggie Umber’s work has always pushed the boundaries of the comics form—often wordless, deploying unconventional media, and challenging narrative expectations. Her magisterial Sound of Snow Falling tells the seasons of two owls without words, but evoking a world of sound that we might finally hear if we learned to listen. Her newest book, Chrysanthemum Under the Waves, is a meditation on loss, mourning, and the new lives we exhume in the process. Join OSU comics scholar Jared Gardner in conversation with Maggie as they discuss her career, her craft, and her most recent book, six years in the making and premiering at CXC.
Filmed at the Main Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library
Video production by Nicolettecinemagraphics
Part of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus - September 26 - September 29, 2024
CXC is a free comics,
art, and animation festival in Columbus, Ohio!
🖤 Maggie